Federal investigators began investigating the Iraqi refugee in 2014 after he told a federal source that he wanted to travel overseas to support ISIL in fighting jihad. The feds say Al Harden, who came to the United States in 2009, underwent training with an AK-47 and expressed interest in learning how to turn cell phones into detonators for IEDs.

According to the plea agreement, Al Hardan took an oath of loyalty to ISIL in November of 2014 and began supporting the terror group publicly on social media.